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2002 SESSION

022547508
SENATE BILL NO. 145
AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE
(Proposed by the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions
on February 21, 2002)
(Patron Prior to Substitute--Senator Norment)
A BILL to amend and reenact § 54.1-3301 of the Code of Virginia, relating to practice of pharmacy.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 54.1-3301 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 54.1-3301. Exceptions.

This chapter shall not be construed to:

1. Interfere with any legally qualified practitioner of dentistry, or veterinary medicine or any physician acting on behalf of the Virginia Department of Health or local health departments, in the compounding of his prescriptions or the purchase and possession of drugs as he may require;

2. Prevent any legally qualified practitioner of dentistry, or veterinary medicine or any physician acting on behalf of the Virginia Department of Health or local health departments, from administering or supplying to his patients the medicines that he deems proper under the conditions of § 54.1-3303;

3. Prohibit the sale by merchants and retail dealers of proprietary medicines as defined in Chapter 34 (§ 54.1-3400 et seq.) of this title;

4. Prevent the operation of automated drug dispensing systems in hospitals pursuant to Chapter 34 (§ 54.1-3400 et seq.) of this title;

5. Prohibit the employment of ancillary personnel to assist a pharmacist as provided in the regulations of the Board;

6. Interfere with any legally qualified practitioner of medicine, osteopathy, or podiatry from purchasing, possessing or administering controlled substances to his own patients or providing controlled substances to his own patients in a bona fide medical emergency or providing manufacturers' professional samples to his own patients;

7. Interfere with any legally qualified practitioner of optometry, certified or licensed to use diagnostic pharmaceutical agents, from purchasing, possessing or administering those controlled substances as specified in § 54.1-3221 or interfere with any legally qualified practitioner of optometry certified to prescribe therapeutic pharmaceutical agents from purchasing, possessing, or administering to his own patients those controlled substances as specified in § 54.1-3222 and the TPA formulary or providing manufacturers' samples of these drugs to his own patients;

8. Interfere with any physician assistant with prescriptive authority receiving and dispensing to his own patients manufacturers' professional samples of controlled substances and devices that he is authorized, in compliance with the provisions of § 54.1-2952.1, to prescribe according to his practice setting and a written agreement with a physician or podiatrist; or

9. Interfere with any licensed nurse practitioner with prescriptive authority receiving and dispensing to his own patients manufacturers' professional samples of controlled substances and devices that he is authorized, in compliance with the provisions of § 54.1-2957.01, to prescribe according to his practice setting and a written agreement with a physician.

10. Interfere with any legally qualified practitioner of medicine or osteopathy from participating in an indigent patient program offered by a pharmaceutical manufacturer in which such practitioner forwards a prescription for one of his own patients to the manufacturer who returns a stock bottle of the prescribed medication to the practitioner for the patient at no charge. The practitioner may dispense such medication at no cost to the patient without obtaining a license or any other authorization from the Board of Pharmacy or any other state licensing agency, if the container in which the drug (i) is labeled in accordance with the requirements of § 54.1-3410 and (ii), unless directed otherwise by the practitioner or the patient, meets standards for special packaging as set forth in § 54.1-3426 and Board of Pharmacy regulations. In lieu of dispensing the medication directly to the patient, a practitioner may transfer the donated medication with a valid prescription to a licensed pharmacy for dispensing to the patient. The practitioner or pharmacy participating in the program shall not use the donated medication for any purpose other than dispensing to the patient for whom it was originally donated, except as authorized by the donating manufacturer for another patient approved by the practitioner and the manufacturer. Neither the participating practitioner nor pharmacy shall charge the patient for any medication provided through a manufacturer's indigent patient program pursuant to this subdivision.

This section shall not be construed as exempting any person from the licensure, registration, permitting and record keeping requirements of this chapter or Chapter 34 of this title.